Rebels lock Adam Byrnes has been found guilty of an eye gouging offence and will miss the next 10 weeks of his side’s campaign.

Byrnes was cited under Law 10.4 (m) after it was alleged he made contact with the eyes of Waratahs centre Tom Carter almost half an hour into Saturday’s match in Melbourne.

Judicial Officer Paul Tully’s finding are below:

“After consideration of extensive video footage of the incident and written testimony from Tom Carter and the Waratahs Team Doctor, Dr Luke Inman, there was sufficient evidence to support that contact had been made with the right eye and bridge of the nose of the Waratahs player Tom Carter during the course of a ruck by the player Byrnes in contravention of the laws of the game.

Medical evidence was presented that demonstrated that Mr Carter had sustained a minor scratch to the eye but was otherwise uninjured. The entry point of an offence of this nature is 12 weeks in accordance with IRB Regulation 17.

Credit was given to Mr Byrnes for his otherwise unblemished record by reducing the suspension by 2 weeks and therefore he is suspended from all forms of the game for ten weeks, up to and including the 13th May 2012. “